Scoring breakdown

If a week is a long time in politics, then five years in the ultra-busy small-car segment is an eternity. Yet that is how long the current Lancer has been with us, a period during which virtually all of its major rivals have been replaced by sparkly new models to tempt buyers in their direction.

There is no sign that a new Lancer is just around the corner to replace the CJ model released about halfway through 2007. So in the meantime Mitsubishi has given us a seemingly value-packed variant called the LX, loading it with equipment and some other gadgets in the same way an ageing actress will use make-up and jewellery to distract from advancing years.